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San Francisco Sublime, Sushi On A Green Day, And Fast Cars With Tracy Chapman…

Today Up On Christmachine Audio Reference Music Server :

I know, I know…I’m crap with deadlines. You can be sure that something is always coming here, exactly when…well, that is a different story. Be assured that I have a thousand more just like this. I hope you enjoy and many thanks for all your support and kind words. Respect! Respeto!

I have already told you that I lived in different places on different continents between tours, but I fell in love with California quite easily as you could imagine. It was easy to go up and down the West Coast of the US very quickly when work became available. The two cities I established residencies in were San Diego and San Francisco. San Diego for when I wanted to chill out in the amazing weather, and San Francisco when I wanted to be a night crawler. It was the 1990’s and there was an explosion of creative expression on many fronts, but specifically in Art, Music, and Cinema.

After spending quite a bit of time in San Diego, I got restless and all it took to move to the Bay Area was a kind invite from a girl I met in San Diego to move into her home in San Francisco. The relationship with her would always remain a platonic one, we just became good friends. Not only that, one of the things I loved about California was how laid back and friendly the people were. She invited me to live at her Mothers large rent controlled apartment after only knowing me for a few days. Things always worked out like that in Cali, people were always so open to new, or even unconventional ways of living. It was very communal in many ways, but as we know although I could easily make my way into new groups of people, it was no utopia as some would like to think or imagine from what they see in the movies. Whatever group one would become part of would also quickly inherit the flaws, idiosyncrasies, and burdens of which that group had to bear.

So I was in San Diego and I thought to myself why not take up this invitation to live in Frisco for a good while. After returning from Europe to San Diego, I brought with me two Danish girls, one who I was in a relationship with and her friend, who I also got on quite well with. They wanted to go to San Francisco anyway before returning to Denmark. So we packed up my car and head up to the Bay Area, and booked into a Hotel in the Marina District for a few days. It was a lot of fun walking around the city with two tall beautiful natural blondes on my arms, literally, they were intimating to people that we were in a three way relationship. Brunettes don’t fret, we love you too, it’s the imagery of the situation that was quite amusing. I just went along with their fantasy, although I was only in a relationship with one of them. I vividly remember the two Danes dragging me into a large high end store because they wanted to pick out some cologne for me. They fell in love with one scent and I bought it because I liked it as well. After spritzing some on my neck and wrists, the Danes became overtly turned on and were literally attacking me with nudges from their lips on my neck. I did not stop them and of course continued to play out our sexual tension to their hearts content. They were so erotically charged….there was no way I was not buying that cologne.

After a few days of wandering the city, I rang up my friend Anna, who had invited me to move in with her family, and she said I could come by whenever I wanted. I had the address, but I would see the Danish off at the airport first before going there. I have a thing similar to George Costanza on Seinfeld where I believe that sometimes it was crucial that two worlds did not collide and this was one of them. I wanted a fresh start in Frisco, and it was essential that I send off the Danes in style. So we went clubbing the night before they left and I basically dropped them off for their flight back to Copenhagen on no sleep and I remember them being quite hung over as well. We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch which still holds true to this day.

Mission Dolores Park ~ It’s not usually this packed…You must go!

So the same day as the girls left for Europe, I went to the address Anna gave me to her home. I was instantly blown away by the location on 20th Street off Guerero, just a half a block from the Scenic Mission Dolores Park and a few blocks from Mission Street. After parking my car, I went to the front door and rang the bell. I could hear Rap Music blasting from the house I was ringing. The house looked beautiful from the outside, one of those row houses that you see in Frisco, thin and tall with ornate woodwork. After a minute or so a black dude around my age opens the door and after looking me up and down and then up and down the street in suspicion he asks me, ‘What’s up?’ I told him I was a friend of Anna’s and she had invited me to stay. He said, ‘ Oh yeah, she mentioned you might be coming by, C’mon in.’ He introduced himself as Jae (Pronounced, Jay), and said that Anna was at work, so I came in and we sat in his room listening to some great Rap Music I had never heard and smoked a blunt. We got to talking and he told me worked at a the Radio Station KMEL which was big at the time for Hip Hop. He was a really cool guy…it was as if we had known each other for a long time. At some point a month later Jae brought me to a party down in LA and I got to meet Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight which was very cool because I was into Death Row Records at the time.

Anyway Jae had many friends of his coming in and out over the next few hours, smoking a blunt with every one…I abstained after the first one I did not want to be toast by the time Anna came home from work. After a few hours she arrived and we were both excited to see each other. She showed me to one of the many rooms in the apartment and said I could stay in there for as long as I want. Anna showed me the rest of the flat there were five large rooms with very high ceilings and it was kept up well. There was no bed in the room I was staying in but I was fine just using a camping pad and sleeping bag on a the hardwood floor. I was easy…I didn’t need much to settle in. I was also curious to ask Anna how Jae had ended up living with them. Anna told me that they had become friends and he came from a crazy home outside the city and he, over time, just became part of the family.

We hung out in Jae’s room for the afternoon to shoot the shit…we were having fun just chillin’. A few hours later Anna’s Mom came home we were introduced. I was a bit thrown off that this was the first time Anna had mentioned to her mom that I would be staying with them. She was real nice about it, when I got her alone in the kitchen a while later I told her I wanted to chip in for the rent…she said “Just give me 100 bucks a month.”, I gleefully agreed. The mother had lived in this house since the 1970’s and thus had cheap rent because of rent control. Anna’s mother was real cool she was a hippie from the 60’s and had lot’s of cool stories to tell about Frisco when it was a really happening place. She recounted the earthquakes vividly and that their house had had been largely spared. She pointed out the buckling of the pavement in the streets and the cracks in the foundations on the street…which I could have missed if I was not being observant. She also told me what it was like to be a hippy in the 60’s in terms of art and music…I learned a lot from her.

I was told to turn my cars front wheels in toward the curb, standard in Frisco, in case the car brakes let go…got it. I was told I might run into Anna’s Uncle who lived in one of the rooms, and they left it at that he was a bit of an oddball. Anna showed me around The Mission, so I could get my bearings in relation to downtown. Jae had friends over a lot and we would have barbecues on the sidewalk just outside the house. Everyone would be drinking and smoking blunts. One of the first nice things I realized about Frisco was that rich people lived next to poor people and most people got along quite well. That is at least in my neighborhood…I don’t know about the rest of the city. Gentrification was spreading like it does in every city and had not hit my area yet. I think today they call my neighborhood, “Dolores Heights”, I heard Mark Zuckerburg lives there nowadays.

Another thing that was fun about their house was they had a large front stoop with a lot of stairs and we would all sit out all day long with the neighbors and just enjoy the nice weather. I know Frisco can be cold and rainy for long periods but it was winter where I came from and it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day. They would tell me that I lucked out…that this was not normal. Every morning I would walk down the street to my favorite rustic coffee shop called “The Club” and get some brew and then head back and enjoy it on the steps. Also every morning a woman would walk past our house with her dog heading toward Dolores Park and I was intrigued because she looked very familiar to me, but I could not figure out why. After a few weeks It popped into my head, she looks like Tracy Chapman…the dreadlocks and her face. One day I asked her and she said yes…it blew my mind because, years before she had made it big, I had seen her often outside the Underground (The T) in Cambridge (Near Boston, MA), playing her guitar and here she was walking by me with her dog every day on the opposite side of the continent. Small world!

As Anna had a normal job, I would be left during the day to hang out with Jae and his friends. Often I would walk up to Mission Dolores Park and sit there amongst huge palm trees and sun, and write voraciously in my journals. Kids and dogs would be running around having fun, in my opinion the most beautiful spot in the city. There was a guy who would walk around with a rolling ice box and sell those frozen 100% fruit pops and I always got the banana coconut every time. If you sat on the benches at the top of the ascending green landscape of the park you could see the downtown part of the city uninhibited. It was a miraculous site, I often could not believe how such an amazing view could be free.

When Anna would get home we would often wander down to Mission Street to shop or grab a massive burrito at one of the many Tacquerias in the area. The food was cheap and portions massive, but it was a seedy area. A lot of drugs being sold out in the open, lots of homeless people, and gang territories…I felt right at home. Walk a couple blocks back towards our house and it was very safe. If you wanted chill, you got chill….If you wanted action, you could get that too.

So after a while I had begun running into Anna’s uncle, he was a pretty cool guy. He was a big reader and had a crazy good collection of old books. He told me he worked at a pirate radio station in the city. If I wanted he said I could come play the guitar on his show, as I had been playing coffee houses around North America. He also talked about how he was a part of a city artist collective as well as the maker of baked goods laced with pot for the downtown Cannabis Buyers Club. Now this was the 1990’s and pot was not legal anywhere in the US. It was the first medical marijuana dispensary in the country, even though it was not legal to even have such a thing in Frisco or California at that time. I went with him a few times night to the Art Collective on Mission Street and met a lot of really nice people. They were all doing all kinds of artwork…I was once again amazed. Everyone brought tons of amazing food to eat and Uncle would always take the leftovers to our place. There was always 30 or more cooked salmon steaks in our fridge and I would just put them between two pieces of bread and munch away. I was living large!

After we would hang out at the Art Collective everyone would go to a local dive bar nearby, and it was there where I met Bradley James Nowell from Sublime. He was only there one time that I can recall and he had Lou Dog with him, yup in the bar. In the US many states make their own rules depending, in California, in The Mission, In that bar, If you had to bring in your dog, they let you bring it in. Next, remember Sublime was not huge at this point. Bradley and the band were still struggling musicians and hadn’t broken worldwide. I bought him a beer and we went out front to smoke a dube. I remember thinking to myself, Sublime, having seen them live already, where a very good band. With that said I knew many very good bands that never made it. I had no Idea of what was to come.

Uncle also was a bit of a hippy as you could imagine. He would make the Cannabis treats which he called “Mariposa Munchies”. He would extract the THC from pounds of pot in our kitchen, the whole house reeked for days after as if we were a cannabis factory. After making hash butter and the aforementioned treats, Uncle would freeze them until they were needed at the dispensary. He told me i could help myself, but to be careful as a half of one treat would get someone rocked a full would turn you into jelly. I ate a whole and he was right, total body high…unable to move and numb. I asked him if he could get me a sample eighth of the Cannabis Clubs finest as I was just hyper curious to see the quality they were selling. He said he was not supposed to but said he would this once…so I gave him 30 dollars and later that day had a nice bag of kush. Quite cheap for the quality, I remember thinking how cool that the Frisco Authorities looked the other way and let the buyers club go about it’s business, downtown no less…I think he told me and I remember seeing it on Market Street.

Another day Uncle comes in the front door and leaves it open walks to the rear of the flat and opens the door wide out to the back yard. I noticed there was a large box truck parked out front. Next thing I know there are ten people walking through the house with over ripe fruits and vegetables in full boxes and placing them on a large pile in the back yard. All I could think of was what the hell was going on. I asked Uncle what all this was for and he told me it was for his compost garden. Ok compost garden….yah….that’s one serious freakin’ compost garden. Se la vie! Now I got why others thought of Uncle as odd, but he also was a very resourceful guy. One really awkward moment I had with him was one day I ran into him in the hall and asked him innocently what he had planned for the day…He replied happily, “I’m just going to chill out all day in bed.” I returned with the comment “I wish I could do that as well.” He looked as if to hit on me, and said, “Well you can.” It instantly dawned on me that he was talking about being ‘With Him’. I politely said ‘no thanks I have a lot to do today’ as if I was oblivious to his offer. I walked away, no harm no foul and that was the end of that. You see I already knew he was gay, but I’ve had many gay friends, and I surely was not gay. After that we just went back to being friends. Too funny, for me anyway.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc Keyaza!

One early evening I had made plans with Anna to check out this new sushi place, everyone was talking about how amazing it was. It had only several tables so it was hard to get in and we would have to wait in line…which was fine with us. It was right near where we lived, on a street north of Mission Dolores Park heading towards The Castro. So we get there and there are about 20 people in line in front of us but it was a beautiful evening and the sun was setting colors everywhere. A few minutes later I hear some commotion behind us and walking up to get in line right behind us were the three guys from Green Day. Now you have to remember that they were newly famous and I thought they were going to skip the line. They did not, we got to chat with them off and on for a half hour. It was pretty cool because everyone obviously knew who they were but no one bothered them. I found out that San Francisco in terms of Rock Star worship was much different in San Francisco than it was in L.A. Every other day we were running into famous people in Frisco and people for the most part went about there business. It was quite refreshing.

Another time I got to be an extra in a film Sean Penn was Starring In. They were filming near the small park at the bottom of the hill to North Beach and Chinatown, near the famous City Lights Bookstore. It was just a car driving scene where Sean was in a vehicle with a large camera attached to the front windshield facing into the car. They did the scene a few times and within an hour it was all over. I just happened to be walking by at the right time and next thing you know I’m an extra. It was pretty sweet, I don’t even know what film it was. I should probably check to see if I made the cut. He He! One of the things that I loved about San Francisco is that it is such a walkable city. I walked everywhere from every angle and got to know the city like the back of my hand pretty quickly. I loved walking over the Golden Gate bridge into Marin, breathtaking for sure.

One day I stumbled upon a Blue Angels show over the Golden Gate near the Presidio. I loved how downtown they would shut down the streets in the center for the Bike Brigade to take over…Awesome. I went to the Gay Pride Festival to check it…wow, I said wow…wild! It was fun to catch new breaking bands at Slim’s. Hanging out on Filmore and Haight at the foot of Golden Gate Park. The Tibetan Freedom Festival in Polo Fields. The Botanical Gardens. My first time at The Registry of Motor Vehicles in California to get my Frisco drivers license. The Palace Of Fine Arts Monument, where Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane were all famously photographed in the 60’s. The Albino Alligator at The San Francisco Zoo. Walking “The Sunset District” to hang out at Lands End at Pacific Beach. So much history….so much culture! I could go on and on but you get my drift. If you have never been to Frisco, you must go if you ever get the chance.

Now on to the difficulties and sad memories of my time living in San Francisco. Even though there are things that turn out to problems, they are often quite worthy of recognition because as you know many difficult situations just give one more life experience and that which does not kill only make us stronger. The first problem I encountered was getting half decent sleep when there are lots of drugs being consumed right in front of me. Jae would have his friends over, up all night blowing lines of coke and I wasn’t into that scene anymore. All I had to do any of those nights of snow, was to get up and walk in the next room over and partake and I would of had a great time. I had done so much cocaine over the years, I was bored as shit from it. Not only that I was done with burning my nasal passages…I was just over it. I still run into peeps doing coke off and on and I can have a good time without it and not wake up the next day with regret. I’m lucky that way I guess as so many I’ve known just can’t stop.

Then there was the nights I had to deal with crazy violence. I came to learn that Anna’s Mom had a a boyfriend that was addicted to crack and he kept falling on and off the wagon. Her Mom would tell me he was a great guy, that was trying to clean himself up. Often I would be awaken at three or four in the morning to them in physical violent fights, screaming and glassware being smashed against the wall. I would gauge whether I should get up and beat the shit out of this guy but I was always stunned that no one else had any intention of stopping this chaos. I would always be surprised the next day when I would see Anna’s Mom and she did not look to have any wounds and she would make comments to justify his actions. I think If I had seen bruises I would have killed the guy. I realize now it’s the inner wounds that hurt the most. Again I was always surprised no one stood up to that asshole…I knew when the violence happened that he had to be high on crack. No telling what he would do…I really can’t say to this day if I made the right decision to stay out of it. If it was my mother the guy would be toast. The house would be full of supposed gangstas but they would never intervene.

Against all of this madness, I still found that I had a spiritual experience in Frisco. One night while I was lying in my sleeping bag and the light was still on in the room. I would find myself scanning the bookshelves in my room. I remember spotting a copy of the seminal book by Aldous Huxley…The Doors Of Perception. I took the book from the shelf and looked at the date of publication and found that it was a very rare first edition. I knew of the book before that but had never read it. This was the book that Jim Morrison got the name for his band “The Doors” from. I began to read and I could not stop, I read the whole thing within one day. I remember reading about how because of how plentiful food was to our generations that we tended to avoid spiritual experience. I knew what Huxley was talking about when he described the spiritual journey one would undergo as a result of deprivation of modern comforts. I had been there before in small doses, in large doses when alluding to mind expansion with psychedelics and how the experience could be similar with said deprivation. I know it does not sound fascinating but I recommend the book even to those people who have not indulged in psychedelics as it explains ways to reach these heights without taking drugs and similar methodology used by many cultures around the world.

Label from a Sublime Soda I bought. I tried to find a Sublime image to use but there was such tight copyright control it was no go.

One of the most bittersweet experiences I take from those days was the destruction of a band that had not even made it famous yet. Sublime was around for several years already throughout California. Although they were from Long Beach, even before they hit the big time they were huge in California. They were constantly gigging trying to get a record deal, and you have to remember that before they blew up in the rest of the country after the death of Bradley James Nowell, they were the quintessential Southern California Party Band. It was twenty five years before the whole Bro movement that we have today, that many find annoying. It was before people were sick of hearing Sublime all day every day on their local radio stations. I got to see them three times before Bradley passed from drugs and alcohol, and before they released there major label debut and blew up across America. I’m not here to defend Bradley’s ideologies, as everyone knew they were all about partying and good times as much as they were about anarchy and other unsavory ideals, it’s not my place. As I said earlier, I got to meet Bradley and Lou Dog when they were in San Francisco for a show and although he was a prickly character he was no doubt a true artist. Bradley and Sublime wrote many of there songs off ideas they got from music that had preceded them. If you had been there you would know that it was not about ripping others off, it was about paying homage to the music that drove them to be musicians. It’s sad that we will never know what could have been, but with that being said there was a lot of great music left behind. I remember the day, hearing that Bradley overdosed in a motel on Pacific Beach in San Francisco. It also saddened me with the rumour that he had copped drugs in The Mission where I lived. Heroin, really shitty to have for a drug buddy. Lou Dog Lived on for several more years. RIP.

As much as The Mission got it’s name from being an oasis of healing and love for centuries before, it was also a fine line or the same side of an eery coin where the angel of death would wait in alleyways and doorstops for people to succumb to their weaknesses and failure to thrive. It was a fascinating look into the microcosmic sub climates of the human mind. Yes, it really was like the movies, the only difference was that the good guy did not always make it out and many of the faithful would find themselves irretrievably in wait for their savior who may have already come.

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So I just got off the phone with a relative visiting Los Angeles, and I ask, where have they gone…”We’ve been to Venice Beach, Santa Monica, yada yada, and Disneyland in Anaheim. We’ve been very busy, tomorrow we head to San Diego where we will be able to relax a bit more.” I replied, “Awesome…what about the Sunset Strip, how did you like that?” I remember when I went to California for my first time…I had a local take me to see the sites, and when I brought up that I wanted to go to the strip, she said…’there’s not really much there, but I get it, we can make a stop there so you can check it out.’ I get it many locals will say that it’s a dirty waste of time. Not me, I thought, I was on a pilgrimage and if I did not experience anything other than “The Strip” that would be fine. I also get that it’s very touristy…I did not care it was the 1980’s and I had to go. So anyway my relative on the phone today says, they did not go to Sunset, and they would not have a chance. It was like a knife in my chest…WHATTTTT!!! At least do a drive through, WTF! So much amazing history but I guess it’s not to be. I know some of you are saying F Sunset, dirty waste of time…WRONG!

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

All I could think of to myself is that some day they will regret not going to the strip, just to see The Rainbow, The Whiskey, and The Troubabour. It reminded me of my first trip to Continental Europe with my Grand Parents when they took us on the “safety tour” in the 80’s when I was young, God love em, but I remembered that they tried to censor our trip. I grew up in Iceland so debauchery was not new to me, but the grandparents were a bit naive and did not get that we, the young ones already experienced the “adult stuff”. My uncle, aunt, and cousins lived near Nijmegen, Holland. It was pretty awesome experiencing it like a local…riding the bike paths in and out of the city and the 10 miles from Beuningen to Arnhem. We had Fritz Met, fries and mayonnaise, had to explain what the American word “Cool” to a local (It did not mean cold), and were hit with major porn next to the Disney Movies at the “Video Ring” while renting VHS tapes. As you know women’s breasts on TV, on the front page of the newspaper, and at the beach is normal in Europe.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

We ate horse meat burgers (salty strange), canned hot dogs, and dairy products like eggs / butter / and unpasteurized fresh milk not refrigerated. Actually reminded me of Iceland, not the same, but eating strange foods that is. Remember there was no Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern on TV then and wandering gastronomy was not popular with Americans…still is not, but people “get” foi gras now even if they don’t want to eat it themselves. Now I know better to go for the Pig Cheek and Tuna Collar…first! Thank you Mr. Bourdain.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

I also went to a Dutch school with my cousin and a friend of his, and all the students were asking me all kinds of questions about celebrities (blech!) and MTV (remember it was the 80’s). It wasn’t all bad, in fact I had a great time in English class. Everyone in Holland had English class in school, what was really cool was when I listened to the kids speaking English (Very fluent by the way), I realized they were learning British English. When they asked me to read a passage in their class book everyone seemed amazed and were stunned that I did not have an Icelandic accent. American English I found out that day was quite different from UK English.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

Anyway I did not accept the idea of a censored Europe, no matter what they did (Much more on that later in this piece, see the plane ride home)…I spent my free days to do whatever I wanted, on my own wisely. I knew what I was looking for and I was going to take advantage of it, no matter what anyone said. We drove to Paris and I remember my Grandparents rushing us by the nude statues…very silly indeed, could not be avoided in The Louvre. Also all the sex shops near the Moulin Rouge was awkward for them…lol. We also went to East Germany, this was before the wall came down, and it was quite sad. Far from the free East Berlin Berghain / Panoramabar lawlessness I would visit several years ago, totally not like I remembered in a great way. We further went to Antwerp Belgium, Amsterdam NL (All Over NL), Berlin DE, Luxembourg, and Zurich Switzerland. It was a very fun trip.

I know now days seeing police dogs and Machine guns at airports is pretty common, but back then it was not. You see we planned our trip months ahead and found ourselves in Holland with military fighter jets doing mission test runs above the house. We turned on the radio and in Dutch, they were saying America was on the brink of w*ar after blo*wing up one of K*had*afi’s homes, kil*ling his s*on. It was pretty scary for a while we did not know what was going to happen day to day. Would we be taking our scheduled flight a few weeks later from Brussels to the US. We thought about leaving early, thankfully we did not as everything seemed to settle down when it was time to leave.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

So as I said I was not going to allow a censored tour of europe, I was a young kid but had been around the block a few times. So I was worried about customs searching my bags especially with all I had acquired on my trip…unknowingly by my Grandparents and with the heightened security. My collectables in my luggage were; several Cuban Cigars, a bottle of cheap French Drinking Wine that all the locals in Paris drank at lunchtime with their bread and fromage, 1 bottle of Russian Potato Vodka, 1 bottle of REAL Czechoslovakian Absinthe, 1 Switchblade, 1 pen…woman with disappearing dress, 1 pack of Po*rn Star Playing Cards, and there was more but you get the idea. I was not even a teen yet and I was a walking ball of debauchery to go, just add water. It was that Heavy Metal music, it was a bad influence on me…I’ll blame it on that. K.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

So we get to the airport in Brussels and began to put our luggage on the conveyor to the x-ray. As it went through I could have pissed myself. Breathe! As soon as my bag came through I picked it up and hustled it away about 30 feet to the bottom of the escalators. I grabbed another bag of my family’s as well. Then all of a sudden there was a commotion behind the scanner and two airport officials come out from behind and start pulling my Grandmother’s bag apart, obviously looking for something. They found nothing as my bag was safely away. Ah to be young again, man was I a handful. That was very close…very very close! Imagine them unpacking my suitcase full of treats right in front of my stunned Grandparents?!?! Anyway I passed through customs and on arrival in the US scuttled without even a search or declaration form in the US. As I walked by inspectors they paid me no attention as I tried to steady my bag, the bottles had come unwrapped and were now clinking. I almost shat myself…steady hand!

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

More to come about my trips to Continental Europe in the future, time to get back to music, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Forward a few years…Now it was the late 80’s, but I had travelled to LA in 83, 85, 88 and 89 and I did not establish my connections in the music industry until the middle of 1989. I thought to myself, I had missed out on Hendrix and the 60’s scene, as well as the Punk Movement in the 70’s (single digits, although I saw the Ramones in 83 but that does not count, right, as I missed the movement). So I had to go to LA for the 80’s Glam Metal Scene…the Sunset strip was insane. The freaks were out and dressed to kill, it was more than you would imagine, the smell of Aqua Net and Phunky Kush was overwhelming. I got to see almost all of the LA Metal bands as there were shows every night of the week. It was a pretty carefree time as I was traveling back and forth between the UK, Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle quite often. There were also many side trips to Vegas and Frisco as well. In the future I would find myself living between the UK, Reykjavik, Boston, San Diego, and San Francisco between tours in the 90’s. What made it even more amazing was that I was able to physically see the major turn in the music industry from LA Glam to The Seattle Sound.

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

When I look back on it, it was a seismic shift but as I just liked loud music I transitioned easily from Motley Crue and Ratt to Alice In Chains and Nirvana. I did not give a fuck about the politics and I got along with almost anybody, so at the time I did not notice the music was too different, of course it was different, but more importantly I could feel that I was part of something very unique and a part of history. What made everything more confusing was that Guns N’ Roses, Janes Addiction, and The Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s holding it up for LA blurring the Alternative lines. Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer (The Big Four) where holding things up for thrash in the US and even bigger in Europe and South America. I would just the same listen to LA Guns, Mudhoney, or Megadeth (just as I do today)…where I really noticed the transition was when I went back home to work in the clubs in the 90’s. All the work shifted from LA to Seattle for sure but back home Glam Metal was out and “Grunge” (hate that term) was in at some point. I didn’t get the memo that Metal was out and Seattle was in. I just went with the flow. The difference at home was the radio had stopped playing 80’s metal and full rotation was set on Seattle, it was really strange. Instead of taking my flights to LAX, I was now heading for SEATAC. That’s just the way it was. Not Enough time to write about the Raves and The Grateful Dead, Old Skool Rap Shows ( Notorious BIG, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Warren G, NWA, Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, KRS 1, Dr. Dre, etc.) that’s for other articles…I was going nonstop for sure!

Photo Courtesy Of Doc!

My experiences during these times are just beginning to be published, every day still I remember a new adventure and make note to be sure I remember to write about it here. “Bastard Saint” the Series has turned into something bigger. A book about all my experiences set to a bizarre ethereal netherworld. Based on a true story…there is so much to it, I will be posting excerpts from it in the New Year of 2015. Sorry, much later than I had expected because I want to give everybody a taste of how the book is coming along and the characters within, without giving away everything in a few posts. However I will probably self publish and give it away for free. So I look to give everyone here pieces to wet the tongue, while leaving people wanting to see development and progress with the full text.

So in closing here I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays! Have a drink and a toke on me…I’ll be sticking with my coffee, Ettan, and Skruf Xtra Stark with a little Thunder Ultra Raspberry / Thunder Frosted, Oden’s Kanel, Gotlandskt Julesnus to keep it real for the season! Real Swedish Imported Snus Taxes Paid(Med Smak Av Jul !)….not that American SNUS Shit!

Most Recent Imported Swedish Snus Haul:

UPDATE: 12/23/14 ~ Excellent News…I guess it was meant to be. I just got off Facetime and the relatives did make it to the Sunset Strip today and they Loved It!!! They are now safely in San Diego [Dago] @ Mission Bay. Pacific Beach Manana!

So Cali Love!!!

Thanks for reading and for all your kind words and support!

More Interesting Articles and Reviews to come.

Cheers and Bless Bless!

CM ☕

☠

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.

Ok, I’m going to see what I can get to in this piece. The reason I say that as some parts will be satisfied with this one pass. With that said, their are parts that require more than one post. So let me see what I can jam into this first one, the rest will be to come in the future. I will touch on all of the parts of the title, however I will let you know as we go along what will take more than one post to cover them in their entirety.

One of my favorite shows running right now is “Sons Of Anarchy” on FX. I can think of only one other show that is in the same league at the moment and that would be “Vikings” on the History Channel. I am planning to get my saga fix through “Vikings” as “SOA” is soon to end its epic seven season run in all it’s bloody glory. Yes there are other great shows like “Homeland” and “House Of Cards”, among others, but I’m talking about top two here.

Katey Sagal who plays the lovingly destructive matriarch of the Teller Family, Gemma Teller Morrow and by default “SAMCRO”, the popular fictitiously violent “Sons Of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original” outlaw biker gang set in modern day California. It’s interesting to me that I got to meet Katey somewhere around twenty plus years ago at one of the clubs I worked for. I was not working that evening, but had gone to see the band Blues Traveler to a packed house in the city. After I made my way to the front row of the crowd with my bottle of Jack Daniels and a pint glass of coke to chase the whiskey, I staked a small claim of space so that I could smoke some weed before the band came on. I had taken some Dexedrine caps an hour earlier so I was racing to go and get things started. I was fired up!

So check this, as I’m smoking some Kush, the lights on the stage were low and I see a woman walking out to center stage right in front of me. Once she got to the microphone I could tell exactly who it was, it was Peg Bundy from the show Married With Children. Wait a second…not really her, her facial structure was the same but she did not have the bu font hair from the show or the exaggerated makeup that Peg Bundy had on the show. I thought to myself, was it possible that Peg Bundy was not a real person, that there was a normal actor playing that role on TV? That was how I processed it for many years up until I grew to love & hate her on Sons Of Anarchy. Yup good drugs…definitely good drugs. Actually I did not watch Married With Children, but popular culture was steeped with it in the late 80’s and 1990’s, and I did NOT know at the time what here real name was.

So again “this woman” takes the microphone and proceeds to introduce Blues Traveler. The crowd was screaming at her, and they would stop somewhat when she would say something to us. I could tell by her voice that it was who I thought it was, I was sure of it. At some point in her introduction there was a momentary hush of the crowd and what do I yell out at the top of my lungs for everyone to hear, “Hey Peg”, the timing was just right and everyone in the crowd began to laugh…and then cheer louder. Peg paused with a cross look and a smile, held up her hand and chuckled as well. She said something like ‘Now, Now, hold on”, and after a polite bow she continued to introduce the band. I realize now that she was being Katey Sagal for a moment, but I was trying to have fun, and she rolled with it without being smug.

Anyway Blues Traveler played an amazing show, if you’ve never seen them, it’s a must. Their guitarist Chan Kinchla blew me away with his wild, heavy, and frenzied guitar attack for the full length of the set. It was not a psychedelic sound as some would imagine, it was more hard rock jamming, while fronted by a bluesy groove for a band. John popper is an amazing front man with his assortment of mouth harps strapped to his chest, with the now deceased lovable Bobby Sheehan holding up the bottom end. This would not be my only encounter with the band, more on that in a bit.

Soon after she fired up the crowd, I went backstage and ran into a really sweet Katey Sagal. I apologized for not knowing her real name but she was really nice about it and told me her real name. I mentioned that I did not watch much TV at the time but I knew the character she played. She said that she is a musician herself, and did not think much of it at the time. What I’ve come to find out is not only is she an amazing actor but an accomplished guitarist, pianist, and singer. Her voice is a refreshing breath of fresh air with an alluring sound reminiscent of a female Roy Orbison, crossed with the vibrato and depth of Heart’s Nancy Wilson, finished off with the gentile touch the likes of Emmylou Harris. Yep she’s quite good, not surprising…I found out hard not to judge a book by it’s cover with that experience. It’s surprising to me because I usually am so open minded, but I can see now how actors can be typecast quite easily. Katey is the real deal, multidimensional and a real talent, but you already knew that. Katey Sagal plays an actor on TV, but she’s a musician in real life. Cheers Katey, congrats to you and the cast for seven amazing seasons on Sons Of Anarchy, now we can all look forward to all your music as well.
Katey Sagal – “Goodbye”

I cannot be positive if that was the first of the many times I saw Blues Traveler, there was so much drugs and drink in my head at the time. I did end up working on the H.O.R.D.E. tour one year with them and The Black Crowes, among many other amazing artists. My years are jumbled, I could pin down the years if I Google the specific tours, my dates with the Black Crowes on tour separately as well. I would rather go with my memory of the actual specific events of that time rather than order. There are many other remembrances for another time. Again, I will get to some of it here.

So I think that as it was my first time seeing Blues Traveler, It was also my first time meeting Bobby Sheehan. We did some coke and there was a lot of jabber jaw, high purity Peruvian flake. I had a very good connection and we went through a good sixteenth in about fifteen minutes. It may not sound like a lot but it wasn’t street coke. It got you much higher, and you could tell it was quality because there was little post nasal drip…that’s how Keith Richards (and others) attest to why they are still alive after so much drug use because they knew the “Chemical Rules”, rules of mixology and purity are paramount. As a result you do much less and get to the extremes of euphoria without the feeling of chasing the dragon during use. Some people can see where I’m going with this, others can’t but you will catch on. So that was it, I met Bobby, blew some rails, and thought it would be the last time I would run into him. Who knew?

So as I said I went to see Blues Traveler again this time in New York City. It was a New Years Eve Show, I think at the Limelight. Clubs moved around a lot in New York because of the Liquor license crackdowns in the 80’s and 90’s. A friend and I decided at the last minute to fly there on a shuttle flight, which pre 9*ii was cheap and quick. We got to the gate seconds before the “Trump Shuttle” was to take off and basically bought our tickets and ran onto the plane with the door waiting to close behind us. We had a fifth of Jack Daniels which we drank in it’s entirety on the hour flight…it’s safe to say we were sauced. Before we got on the plane we split up the drugs and hid them in our pants, he had the Magic Mushrooms, I had the pot, hash, and pills. I thought we were well behaved on the plane, I know we did not make a scene with our Coca Cola chasers, there was nothing notable about the trip except euphoria….so I thought.

Well we disembarked the plane laughing it up, when we realize we are being separated by plain clothes cops…they said we were “suspicious” because we did not have any luggage. Well they searched us separately right out on the city street, no back room deal or anything. They let us go after about fifteen minutes…the officers told us to wait and after they conferred, we were let go because we had the same story, we were going to see a New Years Eve Concert at the Limelight. It was the truth, simple as that. They did not even ask us if we were carrying any drugs, but we were not going to argue against the search even on a trumped up reason. Now days they search the inside of the pants, back then they did not thankfully. I always carried my drugs in my crotch and fortunately they never were found. Glad I don’t have to do that anymore, those were the days. Again, the show was awesome, we ate mushrooms, smashed bottles with a thousand other people on Bleeker Street in The Village early morning and chilled out on benches in Washington Square Park before catching a Greyhound home at the break of dawn.

It seems like it was not more than a year later when a friend and I were kicking it in a popular college watering hole, and who is there getting sauced as well John Popper and Bobby Sheehan. We hung out for a few hours till last call and just when we were about to walk out the door Bobby runs up to me to see if we can score some blow…he’s says ‘we’ll give you the cash if you want to run to the ATM with me’. I told him that the money was not necessary, that we could split it later. He wanted us to come back to the Hotel and hang out with them and some girls for the night, he was adamant that they wanted to party. My coke dealer was supposed to be out of town but I said I think I can hook up anyway. So he gave me a piece of paper with all the info of the Hotel location and I said we would call them when we copped. Well I made the phone calls, beepers (yeah…remember them), tried backups…I think it was the first time I was not able to score in a moments notice. After a while we called them at the hotel and let them know it was not going to happen…it was all good he said. I told him call me when you come to town again. Laterz!

So as I look back on it it was probably a good thing that I could not score when I think of what was to come. While I was on the H.O.R.D.E. Tour I told Bobby that I had cleaned up and he seemed bummed out but he said it was fine with him. I did my job and I still had a great time as things were suddenly clear after years of debauchery. I remember thinking I could do drugs and still do my job as I had done for years but something inside said no, and not only that, I saw with some of the bands I worked with over the years what drugs could do to destroy relationships that were part of money making machines. As I’ve said before so many lives were lost and careers destroyed. Being clean helped me to avoid situations on the gut level and although it was going on around me everywhere….I could party as hard or harder without the drugs, I think people thought I was on drugs. That was just the ADD talking since I had given up any speed that was working to calm me down. I still broke stuff and jumped out of the balconies of hotels into the pool and people thought that was cool so. Se la vie! Eso si’ que es!

The Black Crowes were awesome guys as well, but I will not get too much into that now. It warrants it’s own article. It is ironic to me that these two bands are connected by the past, but out of respect for the Crowes not wanting to be associated with Blues Traveler, it is what it is. The reason that I bring them up on the short now is because certain members of both Blues Traveler and the Crowes have a notorious feud I will not get into why, but lets just say certain members have said publicly that they hate the other. One band calling the other band not worthy to be in their presence because the other band are basically crap. I have nothing against either of them, they were cool to me. The Crowes were at their peak then when Johnny Colt, Marc Ford, and Ed Harsch were in the band…they were magic onstage. They’re still great today but it’s different…it just is, and that is not a bad thing as all things run they’re course.

One night after the Crowes got off stage…in the same room as I met Katie Sagal I walked into catering and sitting there was Marc Ford and Pauley Shore. Mindfuck….check! Chillin’ with the weasal…check! That was an interesting conversation we had for sure. It got better once the Jack Daniels spiked my blood. Pauley shore is a funny guy, although some might say his moment has passed, he is inextricably linked by blood to comedy royalty in Los Angeles.

A sad end to this chapter was me finding out that Bobby Sheehan had died of a drug overdose in 1999 at the age of 31. The interesting thing is that I never hear anyone talking about him, and I found that quite sad. Bobby was a kind guy and is truly missed by those who knew him and it sounds cliche, but he really would give you the shirt off his back. Because, as I said, I have not heard much about him after his passing, I thought it high time to make mention of him here. Some might say well it’s not very flattering to talk of him in light of the drug use but it was his flaw. That does not make him a bad person. As you know some of us souls live for the thrill of everything life has to offer, even if it means our time here on earth is short. The thunder of bass coming out from below his cap still resonates outward for all the storms yet to come.

CORRECTION: I Think???***The New Years Eve Blues Traveler Show referenced in the above article was held @ The Roseland Ballroom, New York City, in the early 1990’s, as opposed to the Limelight Club??? Again, I think…If my memory serves me right. Thanks <3

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Again thank you for all your support…Keep your head up!

COMING TOMORROW: Today’s Favorite Videos Series #20

Cheers and Bless Bless!

CM ☕

☠

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.

Time for another Doc Photo Post! I want to welcome my new followers from Twitter and the interwebs. As I said before we have so much amazing history to show in photos. This post is only another sampling of the 1000′s of amazing and rare photos I have from the Doctor which he has bestowed upon us! If you see a photo you know already, the doctor had his hands involved in it or at least through his friendship with the great Ross Halfin and other of our generations greatest music photographers. It’s going to take me years to post the best and I’m honored to do it here. One day Doc will be known more for his art than his real job, lead rigger for “The Monster”. So here we will publicly post and archive his Art of Photography.

ALSO COMING SOON TO CHARMSERVER & A FEW THINGS TO LET YOU KNOW:

I fixed all the videos on the night page (except 2, for Copyrght Issues) , there are more playlists to come soon, as well as more Articles!

Also as I posted before, Coming In September the new “BASTARD SAINT” [SERIES] ~

Also the first REVIEW in September is going to be the biggest and most comprehensive review We have ever attempted. Yes Bigger then Pepper’s! It’s going to be of my personal favorite album of all time. This will be another Audio Reference Music Server Exclusive, there is nothing else like it on the web. Some of you may be able to guess what it is…but I hope it will be a welcome surprise to many. It will drop in the first or second week in September!

To Finish and get to the post…In the next few months I will be working on a big surprise for all our friends here…it is so big that it makes my head spin…“Travel”is a hint as is “Global”, coming in 2015! Everyone will be along for the ride! wink wink nudge nudge! 😉

Stay Tuned….

You’re welcome to join me on Twitter if you want and I’ll follow you back as well.

Please do not reproduce this article either all or in part without the expressed written permission of the author who can be reached via the “Contact” section in the header menu. You may link to the article if you wish, all that we ask is that you give credit to the respective author…”Christmachine” wherever you post a link. Thank you.